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Thursday, 14 February 2019

Six Nations - Keep it terrestrial

With this year's Six Nations kicking off with a bang and with TV audiences looking more than healthy (I read somewhere that the Ireland v England match attracted north of 5.7m viewers on ITV, for instance), the unions of the Six Nations have - according to a report in the Daily Telegraph - been discussing a proposal to pool broadcasting rights for all of their home fixtures - including the Six Nations and November internationals - in an attempt to drive a better deal.

That's all well and good, as long it does not result in the Six Nations being lost to terrestrial TV when the current deals expire in 2021.

The Six Nations' plans will come as a kick in the teeth to World Rugby and Agustin Pichot who has tabled a proposal - discussed last month at a World Rugby summit in Los Angeles - to set up a new World League backed by a single broadcaster looking to secure TV rights for the Six Nations, Rugby Championship and November Tests.

Without wishing to go in to the merits of Pichot's proposal for a World League (fundamentally a bad idea for all sorts of reasons), the fact that all international rugby - including the Six Nations - would consequently more than likely end up on pay TV makes such a proposal, for me, a non-starter.

If World Rugby had real aspirations to grow the game long term it would understand the benefit of having the showcase tournaments available to all on free-to-air terrestrial tv.

Unfortunately World Rugby appears seduced by dollar signs and short-term financial gain - and I can only hope that the Six Nations unions, in their discussions, recognise how short-sighted that approach actually is.